Can Leasehold Condos Deliver Better Returns Than Freehold? A 10-Year Data Study Says Yes
In this Stacked Pro breakdown:
- We compared 10 years of freehold and leaseholdhttps://stackedhomes.com/freehold-or-leasehold-condo/”>leasehold condoef=”https://stackedhomes.com/district-15-boutique-condo-profitability-analysis/”>condo transactions across resale, sub-sale, and new launches
- In shorter time frames, one tenure outpaced the other by over 20%, revealing patterns most buyers overlook
- But stretch the timeline far enough, and a surprising reversal happens — with returns most buyers don’t expect
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It’s been drilled into the Singaporean mindset that “freehold is better.” But this is an oversimplified saying that ignores a key fundamental factor: that of time.
99 years is a long time; and it can take many decades before the freehold premium starts to pay off. For those who sell a condo in a short time span, such as within the first decade, freehold status may even be a drawback. In the following study, we look at how long you should hold a freehold condo before it really starts to matter; and we try to pinpoint the age at which a leasehold condo still tends to outperform a freehold counterpart:
Comparing freehold and leasehold properties over the past 10 years
For the following, we compared the price growth of freehold versus leasehold condos from 2014 to 2024.
As is common practice in the property market, we regard 999-year lease projects as being effectively similar to freehold, for these comparisons. We also excluded condos built from 2015 as their inclusion in the dataset will distort prices since newer condos will likely be leasehold as the Government no longer sells freehold land.
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